Venturing Into The Great Unknown

We started our morning even before the sun rose. Because of our desired breakfast stop we wanted to make sure that we left ourselves plenty of time to get to the ferry (even with the reservation). While Mum checked out, and made sure that our “comped” parking was, in fact, taken off the bill – it was – I put the suitcases in the car. We then popped across the street to grab a Timmie’s coffee before heading across the Lions Gate Bridge to breakfast.

We went to Tomahawk BBQ Restaurant, which was featured on both You Gotta Eat Here and Triple D. Although both Mum and I have been here before this was the first time that Mum had experienced their delicious breakfasts. I had a half order of Eggs Benny and Mum had a half Sunrise Special with a poached egg. As we waited for our breakfast we soaked in the ambiance provided by the Native artifacts that cover the walls and rafters. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any photos to share as they ask people not to take pictures

We had time to kill before we needed to be at the ferry terminal so we decided to take Marine Drive instead of the Upper Levels Highway. Anyone who has driven up Taylor Way and taken that insane stretch of road will understand our decision. We enjoyed our leisurely drive along Marine Drive, despite the numerous bicyclists that were also using the road. We took them in stride…who could blame them; it was a beautiful day. We did, however, forget that we needed to get on the highway in order to get on the ferry. So, after backtracking a couple of exits, we were back on track and we arrived at the terminal with plenty of time to spare.

We decided to stay in the car as we were right by an opening in the side of the ship…why fight for a seat up top when we had comfy seats already. I took a couple of pictures as we were heading out of the bay and I was able to look back towards Vancouver and English Bay. Although it was hazy the skyline was unmistakable…this is the view I always remember of the city I fell in love with in ’82.

Mum and I spend some time doing Facebook quizzes until I lost service and then she read while I did a crossword. The silence on deck was broken by the sounding of the ship’s horn. We looked up and realized that we had sailed into a fog bank; which was quite disconcerting, but we went back to what we were doing as we knew it was just sea fog. It did, however, stay with us until we docked in Nanaimo.

We drove up the hill to the Timmie’s, where F was waiting for us, with a rose for me, as always. After a quick picture by the car, we headed in for a coffee and then took another picture with our Timmie’s cups. We transferred the ridiculous amount of stuff that I accumulated on the trip into my car, said some quick goodbyes, and we were off…Mum heading north and me and F heading south.

It seems like just yesterday that I was meeting up with my mum at the border and we were starting our adventure; but now it is day 16 and the end of another voyage of discovery. We had some awesome weather, unbelievable food, and also some unexpected happenings (both good and bad). Through all of it, We survived and made memories that will last a lifetime.

I want to thank my dad for sending me on my first trip with my mum back in 2010…without him we would never have started our annual food adventures. I also want to thank F for holding down the fort for me every year as I escape this Rock we live on. I also appreciate all the restaurant and hotel reviewers on the web that have made planning these trips so much easier. This year I also would like to thank my bosses who allowed me the time to go off exploring.

Finally I want to thank Mum for making these annual trips possible. She has afforded me my idiosyncraties; both restaurants and trip routing…and also my occasional meltdowns when things don’t go exactly as planned. We’ve learned to make our long days at the start of our trip; plan shopping for weekdays; research parking and restaurant hours; and most importantly to make lemonade when the Fates seem to be against us. Thank you Mum…I had a blast!

Thank you all for reading and I will talk to you again soon.

L

Today was filled with ups and downs, but overall it was a good day. We started with breakfast at the hotel and then mulled over where we should spend our day. Since we didn’t want to move the car, and Mum didn’t want to walk too far, we decided on catching the bus to Granville Island Market.

We walked around for a while, looking at the local wares, and also the over-priced touristy items that were available. Mum was able to find her whole yellow peas and I found, not only green papaya, but dried Jolokia chili peppers.

We had originally planned to go to Go Fish but after walking half a mile to the restaurant, we saw the ginormous lineup of people waiting to get in and decided against it. Then Mum suggested we go to The Sandbar as Giada De Laurentiis had recommended it on one of her shows. We took a look at the menu and I decided to pass; partly because of the price and partly because the one thing that I thought I would be able to eat (fries) came with truffle butter. I realize that may sound divine to some but that is way too far outside of the box for me, and in my opinion, wrong on so many levels. We ended up going to The Keg as both Mum and I needed to eat, and there were very few choices left. The food was good and the Molson Canadian I had seemed to put me in a better mood.

After lunch we headed back to the bus and decided to go to the mall for a little shopping before we went back to the hotel. I had planned on going to Pacific Centre but just as we were getting off I saw an Old Navy with a giant SALE sign in the window – I was sold. I got some great deals on shirts and after we were done, we realized we didn’t really need to go to the mall after all. We stopped for a drink at the coffee shop just down the street and sat outside so we could people-watch. Then we headed back to the hotel for a rest before dinner.

Dinner was at American Cheesesteak which was featured on You Gotta Eat Here. Man the food was good! I had The Cowboy (shaved prime rib, crispy fried onions, spicy BBQ sauce, bacon mayo and cheddar) and Mum had The Arista (Italian style pork roast, sauteéd onions & peppers, provolone, arugula and dijon mayo). We also shared an order of poutine, although I’m pretty sure I had most of it. It was made with mushroom gravy which is way outside my comfort zone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel along Granville Street. The street that was full of kids and tourists during the day was filling up with the bar crowds that pack the sidewalks on Saturday nights. I’m pretty sure that Mum was glad when we got back to the hotel.

So there it is…our last full day of our trip. We will be getting up fairly early tomorrow so we can fit in one more stop before we hit the ferry.

Thanks for reading and talk to you soon.

L

We awoke to a torrent of rain that showed no sign of relenting. After a quick breakfast of leftovers at the hotel, I dodged the raindrops while I loaded the suitcases into the car. Before nine o’clock we were on the road – heading north to the border…and home to Canada. Because of the rain, we decided to forego another visit to the Capitol Building…there’s always next trip.

We drove up to the Seattle-Tacoma area without too much issue; weather- and traffic-wise, but ran into ridiculous traffic once we hit Tacoma. Thankful for the HOV lanes, we zipped past most of the traffic jams…almost missing our exit to the 405…I happened to notice the exit at the last minute and cut over five lanes (safely) just in time to exit onto the bypass around Seattle. We continued in the HOV lanes on the 405, making great time, until it was time to exit back onto the I-5…another exit I almost missed.

By this time the rain had subsided to a light drizzle and stayed that way until Mount Vernon where we stopped for our final Walmart shop. We were prepared with our shopping lists, and we able to get most of the items we were looking for – I was especially happy to find my pizza-flavoured Combos. Mum and I also picked up our normal bottles of alcohol – tequila for me; rum for her. After gassing up the car, we were off again and heading to the border. We made it across the border with very little fuss or wait and before we knew it, we were heading towards Vancouver on Highway 99.

We made it into Vancouver around 2:30 and went straight to the hotel. After some disagreement over the price, room type and parking arrangement; we got settled…or at least as settled as we could be in a room so small. Realizing that my mood probably had a lot to do with my need for food, we headed across the street for a coffee, and were greeted by a beautiful sign…

We had a coffee and then decided to grab an early dinner at DD Mau’s (as featured on You Gotta Eat Here). We had originally wanted to go to Tomahawk BBQ in North Vancouver, but were worried about losing our parking spot at the hotel. We walked the half-mile to DD Mau’s and we happy to see that, not only was there no lineup, there was seating inside.

This was Mum’s “must-visit restaurant” of the trip so I was very glad that it worked out so well. I got an order of spring rolls (which came with a garlic aioli) and a duck bánh mì (which was ridiculously spicy, but in a good way). Mum had a chicken & spring roll noodle bowl, which she added a bit of sriracha to, in order to kick it up a notch. We were both quite happy with our selections.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and watched the Triple D marathon that is always on Friday nights. After Mum went to bed, I sat down to write this blog – it would have been done quicker if I wasn’t continually reconnecting to the hotel’s crappy low-speed WiFi. Looks like I will have something else to complain about to the front desk in the morning. For now I will make lemonade, and bid you all adieu.

Thank you for reading and I will talk to you soon.

L

Today was our last full day in the States. We awoke to a partly cloudy day with the sun trying to peek through the clouds. We packed up the car and headed to Pine State Biscuits for breakfast. They have been featured on Diner’s, Drive-Ins & Dives; Food Paradise; and Unique Eats.  This was our fifth visit to PSB, but our first visit to their new location on SE Morrison. As with every visit, we lucked out with not only parking but also not having to wait in line. This year I decided to switch it up and got the Chatfield (fried chicken, bacon and cheese topped with apple butter) and Mum got a biscuit with whipped butter and local honey. We were not disappointed – it was scrumptious as always.

After breakfast we headed to an Italian supermarket, Pastaworks, to look for some dried pasta that Mum can’t find on the Island. We were able to find the shapes that she was looking for but didn’t think the $8-$12 cost per package was reasonable (they were all about 1lb each). The one other thing that Mum was looking for was a can of Brio to have for lunch, but for some unknown reason, they did not carry it. We then headed to Edelweiss Deli, which was featured on Triple D, to grab some lunch meat for our picnic lunch. It was also slightly overpriced, but the wine cured salami, landjager and jagdwurst were all quite good. We then headed north out of Portland.

We stopped at the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center in Woodland, WA (about 30 minutes north of Portland) to check on the cloud cover on the summit cam. As in prior years, I was denied the ability to see the summit and had to settle with just getting some small souvenirs from the centre. One of these days I will see my favourite mountain – just not sure when that time will come. Since we were denied the ability to have a picnic at MSH, we stopped at a park in Chehalis instead.

After lunch we headed to Michael’s Craft Store and a pet store in the same mall. Mum and I both were able to find things that we were looking for; including name tags for our pets – bone-shaped for Mum’s doggies and a heart for my cat. A few miles up the road we stopped at the Outlet Mall in Centralia where Mum found a of couple shirts in the Pendleton Outlet Store.

We arrived at the hotel in Olympia just before the skies opened up and the rain came down in torrents. While we waited for the rain to stop, we looked at our two options for dinner. We had originally planned on Darby’s Café but after talking to the very helpful front desk clerk, we found that there was a second Food Network stop in Olympia, Fish Tale Brew Pub. We took a look at the menus and reviews for both and decided to stick with Darby’s…until we tried to find parking. We ended up finding parking in a lot next to the Fish Tale Brew Pub. It was the weirdest lot that Mum and I had ever seen – you put the payment in a board with slots for each stall.

We headed into the pub and looked for a seat…this turned out to be harder than finding parking. Luckily a waitress noticed the lost look on our faces and took pity on us, finding us a table upstairs. I started with a Fish Tale Organic Blonde Ale and mum had an apple cider. For dinner I decided on the fish & chips and Mum had the bangers & mash. The fish was panko-breaded – which is not normally how I like my fish – but it was beautifully cooked and I even enjoyed the homemade tartar sauce (yet another outside my comfort zone event). The bangers came with grilled zucchini which is not one of my Mum’s (nor my) favourite veggies, but both of us totally enjoyed them. Yet again the fates were shining on us and we lucked out on choosing a restaurant.

On the way back to the hotel we passed by the Capitol Building but it was too dark for pictures – maybe we’ll get some in the morning. Thank you for reading, and I will talk to you soon.

L

Today was a simple day of shopping and resting. We awoke to the sound of rain on the pavement as the cars passed the hotel room. We had a breakfast of leftovers at the hotel before we heading to the Lloyd Center – the biggest mall in Portland.

We spent over three hours here; visiting most of the stores, and shopping ’til we dropped. I was able to get some scarves, shoes and a new purse. I also spent some time looking at the mannequins to see how the latest fashions are being worn – my daughter will be proud that I am at least trying to be fashionable.

After shopping we headed back to the hotel to drop off our bags, then headed across the street to Red Robin for lunch. We started with an order pretzel bites, which we shared. Mum had a soup and sandwich combo of clam chowder & a BLT with avocado. I had the Burnin’ Love chicken burger with jalapeños.

Once we were done lunch, we headed back to the hotel to relax. Our dinner consisted of more of our leftovers, mainly so we don’t have more food than we can finish before we cross the border.

The rest of the evening was spent watching television and doing some reading. And, just before sunset, the sun came out – hopefully that means we may have good weather tomorrow.

Talk to you soon and thank you for reading.

L